Recent content by DougK

we've owned several different pads since the days of 'gaper pads', those blue closed-cell foam pads we carried up many a mountain.. but still use Thermarest pads from the early 90s, been blowing them up by mouth all these years and no signs of deterioration from moisture or mold. It probably...

looks like a good exciting run, well done ! The Penobscot is a great boat. We had a Penobscot 186 for carrying the whole family and gear. The worst thing I ever did with it, was the N Platte river from Six Mile Gap down to Saratoga, a two-night trip which starts with a mile of continuous class...

interestingly I had a spectacular failure of a Yakima rack recently, upon posting a one-star review on the Yakima website, support told me not to take the racks through a car wash at all.. danged if you do (take the rack through the carwash), danged if you don't (remove the rack before going...

it's a problem.. finally got to retirement, the problem with retirement is now I'm old and everything takes longer, including recovering from each time I leave the house ;-) One of my son's friends graduated then spent five years in Durango working minimum wage at the gear shop, getting in a...

once, in April 1992.. from the visitor center down about six miles, in an OT Discovery 158, which tells you it wasn't too hard.. river was high and cold, a few strainers but not river-wide. our backpack into the Gila Wilderness got rerouted after we'd spent two hours going a mile with four river...

on every trip, the mantle of the lantern would have broken off somewhere along the rattletrap road.. still running a 1998 gas stove, on the lantern I've happily gone to a solar LED light ;-) still have one like that, though mine is not nearly so nice.

my grandfather's ink well.. keep it on my desk, have to polish it once in a while tho. I'm obsolete now also, so I like to have other old things around ;-) I have rescued what I could of the past from the teeth of time. - John Aubrey, 1697

yes they do.. https://daiwa.us/products/carbon-case-travel-pack I have a Daiwa rod similar to this which I've fished since the 90s, it has held up to a fair bit of trouble. Or, LL Bean also has a nice kit, https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/122768

we paddled along the border in BWCA last Sept, and found the same thing - no permits for border crossing, no news on when they might be available again. it's a shame.. moonrise with bearbags, that's Canada over there..

yes, hadn't thought about rescue/river knives in years. When I went looking after this thread, those Bear Claws look the best bet to me also. But, now I'm old and cautious and don't paddle over class III and that seldom, hoping my old tech Gerber will suffice..

thanks - went and bought a couple of those.. the special edition Ukraine one for tripping and a smaller one just to see. Handsome knives, better-looking than the Moras to my eye, I guess I'm a knife collector now. Never thought I had the collector gene but recently started on old fly reels...

thanks for report, appreciated the steely dan in the weblog post ;-) nasty long swim there, no good way out, just keep swimming.. yes I've done boat rescues midrapid that left me in parlous not to say perilous spots.. would not have chosen this line, but here we are, engage the core and max...

welcome ! I'm on the wrong side of the mountains, get over there when family and work permit.. at Black Rocks in a salvaged Mad River Explorer, 1976 model.. far east on the west slope, upper CO river, my boater's-eye view..

mine is from the 90s, still have it, though it's worn out several lifejackets ;-) glad to say I've never needed it on the river except to scrape the last stubborn bits out of the bottom of the PB jar.. no rust issues at all, maybe that's from living in the mountain West where things are dry...

I have my grandfather's carving set, made in Sheffield of good English steel, probably early 20th century. A couple strokes on the steel every time I carve something keeps it cutting well, it's better than an electric carving knife in my mind. Once a year we host Greek Easter, cook a lamb on the...